‘A Good Day’

Falconer Main Street Property Cleanup Begins

FALCONER -- Since March 2017, debris laid unmoved on 29 W. Main St., but now that has all changed.

On Friday, Falconer Mayor Jim Rensel stood to next various local officials and in front of the media where he and village residents were finally able to put the 2017 arson fire behind him. The cleanup of the Main Street property that was destroyed during the fire began earlier in the week following a long process that faced many complications.

Gathered in celebration of the cleanup were Daniel Heitzenrater, Ellicott Town councilman; Brad Bentley, Chautauqua County director of Public Facilities; Vince DeJoy, of JURA; Gina Paradis, Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation executive director; Paul Whitford, county legislator; Jim Rensel, Falconer mayor; DeEtte Dispenza, village of Falconer trustee; and County Executive George Borrello, among others.

"It was just a team effort," Rensel said. "We've had kind of a cloud hanging over the village here as far as the clean up taking place and a lot work went into this."

Rensel thanked the towns of Poland, Ellington, Gerry, Carroll and the village of Celoron for their contributions of landfill credits to Falconer to ensure that the village can dispose of the debris. Additionally, Falconer had to acquire the deeds of the properties damaged by the fire first before demolition could begin.

During village board meeting on Sept. 10, it was announced that Falconer had in fact obtained the deeds to the impacted properties and essentially speeding up the process. The Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation and the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency (JURA) played intricate roles in providing the cleanup for Falconer. JURA through the city of Jamestown provides project management services for the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation and municipalities in the area. J & J Abatement Services conducted the cleanup and were on site Friday.

"I can't say enough about the team work involved in that," Rensel said. "I want to thank everybody very much."

The clean up will take 2-4 weeks for completion, according to the mayor.

"It's an amazing effort," Borrello said.

Borrello emphasized the collaborative effort that went into the cleanup. He praised the work of the neighboring municipalities and the work of JURA and the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation.

"Everybody, every community, ever town has a derelict structure somewhere and people drive by and go, 'can't somebody do something about this?'" Borrello said. "Well these people are the people that are getting things done and making sure that we're addressing these derelict properties. We're now going to have a blank slate to start with here in Falconer to help with the rebirth and redevelopment of this village and this area."

The mayor highlighted the redevelopment that will follow.

He said redevelopment meetings have been taking place to plan the future of the Main Street property.

"We've interviewed many contractors and we're narrowing it down to who we want to do our redevelopment plan," Rensel said.

He said the village was taking the redevelopment process "day by day" and didn't have a definitive timeline for when it will occur.

"This is a good day," he said. "This isn't the end. This is sort of a beginning of a new chapter here."

DeJoy and Paradis both reiterated the emphasis on the collaborative effort that overcame the challenges the many organizations faced. He also described the 2017 arson fire in Falconer and additional fires in Jamestown during that time as "one of the worst weeks" he has witnessed in his position. DeJoy called the cleanup "exciting" and noted that he was looking forward to see how Falconer moves forward.

"I'm glad that we put this chapter behind us," he said.

Paradis called the shared services among the municipalities regarding the landfill credits "unique" and praised the efforts that allowed for the cleanup that continued on Friday. She was optimistic that the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation can continued its work cleaning up the blight around the county in the future.